Franchise Coaches was built on decades of hands-on experience within the South African franchising industry.
Founder Elana Koral began her franchising career in 1994 at Parker Gordon Associates, one of South Africa’s first franchise consultancies. In 1999, she co-founded Franchize Directions, working with businesses across multiple sectors to develop and grow franchise systems.
Over time, the work evolved beyond traditional franchise consulting. It became clear that successful franchise systems require more than documentation and expansion plans — they require strong relationships, capable support teams, operational consistency, and practical systems that work in the real world.
Franchise Coaches was established to bring these elements together through franchise development, executive facilitation, coaching, training, and strategic advisory support.
Today, Franchise Coaches works with franchisors at different stages of growth — from businesses exploring franchising for the first time to established networks focused on strengthening performance, leadership capability, franchisee engagement, and long-term scalability.
For prospective franchisors
For existing franchisors
Franchise Coaches is led by a team of practitioners with deep, hands-on experience across franchise development, training, and strategic advisory.
Elana Koral is the Founder and CEO of Franchise Coaches, with over 30 years’ experience in franchise development, franchise operations and executive coaching. She commenced her career in 1994 at Parker Gordon Associates, South Africa’s first franchise consultancy, and co-founded Franchize Directions in 1999.
Her approach combines practical franchise experience with formal research into transformational coaching for franchise managers and franchising in African markets.
Elana is the founder of the Nedbank-sponsored Franchise Coaches Executive Breakfast Series and co-founded the 2021 ABSA Franchising for Africa Conference. She runs Nedbank-sponsored training programmes and is a mentor for Women in Franchising Africa (WIFA).
Masters degree in Management, specialising in Business and Executive Coaching, with research focused on transformational coaching within franchise organisations. University of the Witwatersrand Business School.
Brenda MacQueen is a highly respected South African franchising trainer and consultant with decades of experience in franchise development and support. A former director of Franchize Directions, she has trained thousands of franchisees and staff across industries, drawing on her background in retail and the petroleum sector.
Brenda has held leadership roles within the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) and is widely recognised as one of the country’s foremost experts in franchise training, systems and operations.
Former Director Franchize Directions – Past leadership, FASA.
Lindy Barbour has been involved in the development of several successful franchisors and has been instrumental in their expansion strategies. She is currently Head of Franchise at Waxit, a highly successful and rapidly expanding franchise brand.
Lindy brings extensive practical experience in franchise development and expansion strategy.
Head of franchise – Waxit, franchise development and expansion strategy.